An Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer, stationed at Woodlands Checkpoint found 10 live black scorpions stashed in a tissue box inside a Singapore registered car on Tuesday, March 26.
The ICA officers detected those scorpions inside the tissue box which was placed on the dashboard of the vehicle.
The car was driven by a 42-year-old Singaporean man and he was accompanied by another Singapore male passenger, aged 63.
The ICA officer stopped the car to conduct the required search process and during the process, he found the tissue box filled with 10 live scorpions. After the discovery, the officials questioned the driver and the elderly male passenger.
ICA said that they have referred this case to Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) for further investigation. They also mentioned that the scorpions are currently in the care of Wildlife Reserves Singapore.
"Our borders are our first line of defence in safeguarding Singapore's security. The ICA will continue to conduct security checks on passengers and vehicles to prevent smuggling attempts of undesirable persons, drugs, weapons, explosives or other contrabands," ICA said in a Facebook post.
It should be understood that the scorpion smuggling business is huge in several countries. As reported by Arab News, this is one of the biggest business in Afghanistan. It also said that as per a local dealer black scorpions can cost on average hundreds of dollars; example, a scorpion weighing only 60 g can be sold for $120,000.
Business Insider once reported that scorpion venom is the most expensive liquid in the world as it costs $39 million per gallon.
The business of scorpion venom, which contains protein and is used to treat many diseases such as rheumatism, inflammation of the colon, multiple sclerosis and cancer, has turned into one of the most lucrative emerging businesses in Iran.
